Don't Leave Me Johnny Cade!

Chapter 19

The next morning, I slept in later than usual, and when I actually got moving, everyone but Two-bit and Pony were gone. I walk out to where the two boys are, and they both look back at me.

"Good mornin' sleeping beauty. How ya feelin'?" Two-bit has to always make everything into a joke.

"Good morning. I am seriously tired, Two. How are you feelin' this morning Pony?" I ask.

"I'm okay. My arm hurts though."

"You'll be fine. Halfway through today, you will completely forget about it. Anyway, what time is it?"

"Why, it is 8:47 in the morning," Two-bit says. He laughed about it. I chuckled and shook my head. I went back into my room and changed my clothes into something presentable. I put on a regular black tshirt with jeans and a jean jacket over it. I brush my hair and pull it right back up into a ponytail before heading out the door. When we are all set to leave, we head out on our journey. Two-bit tries and fails to hitchhike flicking the people off that pass us by. He notices a mustang a few cars back, so he stops hitchhiking and walks straight to the Dingo. We were going to the Dingo for some food before we go to see Johnny, but all I really wanted to do was go see Johnny. The soc car trailed us all the way to the Dingo, and they pulled in while we were about to walk into the place.

"Pony, wait. Let's see what they want," Two-bit said. I didn't think that was the greatest idea, but I stayed very close to Pony as the socs got out of their car and walked toward us. They started walking closer and closer to us, and I kept getting closer and closer to Pony. When the one really tall soc with brown hair told Pony that he wanted to talk go him, I moved closer to Two-bit now. Two noticed that I had moved closer to him, and he just turned to me a chuckled a little. He started to make fun of the socs flood pants rather than actually watching Pony, so I took over the responsibility of watching him. When he was finished talking to the soc, he walked back over to us, and the mustang beeped its horn. They all left as we walked into the Dingo. We ordered, and I finished my food first ready to go to the hospital. When the boys were finally finished and ready to leave (which I could have swore was a decade), we walked to the hospital. We asked the nurse to see Johnny, but she kept saying no. I couldn't take it, so I stopped a doctor in his path and asked him if we would be able to see our friend. He let us go past the nurse, and we headed on our way to the hospital room. As soon as I walked in the room and saw Johnny, I almost started crying on the spot. He had burns and cuts all over his body, and he was laying upside down with a mirror underneath him. The look of his body just depressed me as soon as I walked in the room. Two-bit was the first to walk over and speak up.

"Hey Johnnykid," Two-bit walks closer to the bed. I followed, but I didn't get too close.

"Hey y'all," Johnny said. His voice was cracking and weak, but it didn't sound too bad.

"They treatin' you okay, kid?" Two-bit spoke softly, and he kept calling Johnny, kid. It made me think he knew Johnny wasn't going to make it, but I couldn't think that way. That was my boyfriend we were talking about, and I didn't want him to die.

"Don't...." he sucked in a deep gulp of air, "....don't let me put enough grease in my hair."

"Don't talk," Two said, pulling up a chair. I took a step closer to the bed, "Just listen. We'll bring you some hair grease next time. We're havin' a big rumble tonight."

Johnny eyes got wide, and he looked right in my direction. When he actually saw my face, he calmed down and tried to smile, but I could tell that wasn't happening.

Two-bit continued, "It's too bad you and Dally can't be in it. It's the first big rumble we've had -- not including the time we whipped Shepard's outfit."

"He came by," Johnny gasp out.

"Tim Shepard?"

Johnny slightly nodded, but I could tell it was hard for him, "Came to see Dally."

"Did you know you got your name in the paper for bein' a hero?"

Johnny managed to smile a little and say, "Tuff enough."

"You want anything besides hair grease, kid?"

"The book..." he looked at Pony, "can you get me another one?"

"He wants a copy of Gone With The Wind so I can read it to him," Pony explained to Two-bit, "You wanna go down to the drugstore and get one?"

"Okay," Two-bit grabbed his jacket off the chair, "Don't y'all run off."

Pony sat down in the chair Two-bit pulled up, and I squatted down beside him. He talked to Johnny for a little about Dally, but then Johnny started saying that death was too early. He didn't want to die now. His life wasn't long enough, and sixteen years ain't long enough. Then, Johnny turned to me. We talked for a little, but I couldn't talk about what he wanted to without already crying. I didn't want to start crying, but I did. I wiped my tears away as one of the nurses came in.

"Johnny," she said quietly, "your mother is here to see you."

His eyes were light and shocked, but soon they turned dark, "I don't wanna see her."

"She's your mother."

"I said I don't wanna see her," His voice started to rise, "She's probably come to tell me about all the trouble I'm causing her and about how glad her and the old man'll be when I'm dead. Just tell her to leave me alone. For once..." His voice broke and fell back down, "...for once just to leave me alone."

He tried to sit up, but suddenly gasped and went as white as the pillow he was on. The nurse rushed us out of the room quickly, and Pony ran straight into Two-bit who was coming in. Two-bit just handed the nurse the book and told her to make sure he got it. When we walked down the hall, we caught a glimpse of Johnny's mother. She was a lot uglier than her son was. She had ratted black hair and a long dress on. She started yelling and screaming at us, but I didn't take it to heart. Someone who beats their son like she does shouldn't even be allowed to be around kids. After seeing her, I understand why Johnny spent so many nights in the lot. After Two-bit decided to talk back at her, we walked into Dally's room. We talked to him for a while. It was nothing important, but we just wanted to check on him and give him company. Once we were finished (which seemed like forever because I was super bored), we walked to a bus stop, hopped on a bus, and headed for home. The boys were getting themselves pumped up for the rumble tonight while I just hung around. When all the boys left for the rumble, Darry said goodbye to me and hugged me before running outside. When they were outside screaming and hollering, I only had one thing on my mind. It wasn't the rumble. It wasn't the boys' safety. It was Johnny.........